Method of extracting juice from fruits and vegetables



QCt ZO, 1942. R; McKINNIS 2,299,553

' METHOD OFEXTRACTING JUICE FROM FRUITS AND VEGEIIABLES Filed Dec.- 6, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 RAPID EXTRACTION OF JUICE FROM CITRUS FRUIT IN OPEN ATMOSPHERE PASSING JUICE IMMEDIATELY TO A CLOSED CENTRIFUGE CONTINUOUS PURGING OF THE CENTRl-- FUGE WITH AN INERT GAS MOVING COUNTER, CURRENTLY TO THE JUICE PASSING. THROUGH THE CENTRIFUGE I SCREENING JUICE IN THE-CENTRIFUGE DISCHARGING SEED FROM CENTRIFUGE I DISCHARGING JUICE FROM CENTRIFUGE 7 THROUGH A LIQUID S IL I I I F LING PREHEATED CONTAINERS WITH BEING T To CONTANERS- v FLASH PASTEURIZING JUICE BEFORE OXYGEN FREE JUICE UNDER A BLANKET OF STEAM WITHIN THE CONTAINERS 1 I- v I PASTEURIZING JUICE IN CONTAINERS. QUICKLY'SIEALING THE CONTAINERS AFTER AL NG I EdnmoJVfi/inims 5 m/ww Oct. 20, 1942. McKlNNls 2,299,553

METHOD OF EXT-RACTING JUICE FROM FRUITS AND VEGETABLES Filed Dec. 6, 1939 2 SheetsSheet 2 -lnert Gas In film of juice on Patented Oct. 20, .1942- UNITED, [STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF EXTRACTING JUICE FROM FRUITSANDVEGETABLES Ronald B. McKinnis, Winter Haven, Fla asslgnor to Sunshine Foods Inc., Winter Haven,

Flag a corporation of Florida Application December 6,1939, Serial No. 307,897

4 Claims.

My invention relates to a process for removing atmospheric oxygen from liquid, and more particularly to removing atmospheric oxygen fro juices of fruits and vegetables to prevent th ir deterioration.

It has been found thatin canning the juices of fruits and vegetables, such as citrous fruit juices, the juice in.the can quickly loses its de-' sirable taste, and the vitamin content is injuriously aifected by the oxygen of the atmosphere. This deterioration is progressive. That is to say, a relatively small amount of oxygen in the juice will in time produce great changes in taste and .vitamin content, and this deterioration proceeds .over a period of time.

In accordance with the present invention I obtain unoxidized juices by extracting in the open I atmosphere and then before oxygen has had a chance to'start the injurious deterioration of taste and vitamin content above outlined, to subject the juices to a purging operation to remove substantially all of the oxygen. In general the process consists of extracting the juice in open atmosphere and then quickly subjecting the juice to purging with an inert gas.

I generally purge the juice by subjecting a thin film of the'juice to a flow of inert gas. The specific apparatus comprises a centrifuge, on the inner surface of the rotary member of which. the juice is spread in a thin film'. Inert gas, such as carbon dioxide, is caused to flow countercurrent to the direction of the movement of the the inner surface of the rotating member.

An object of the invention is to prevent oxidation of liquids from the action of atmospheric oxygen, and in particular fruit juices.

A further object is to provide a process for permitting extraction of fruit and vegetable juiceswhich is simple, positive in action, and requires inexpensiveapparatus which is easily repaired and replaced.

Other objects will be apparent from the ensuing description. 4 v I With these and other objects in view, which may be'incident to my improvements, the invention consists in the parts and combinations to be hereinafter set forth and claimed, with the understanding that the several necessary elements comprising my invention may be varied- -in construction, proportions and arrangements,

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken through thecentrifuge apparatus which I employ in my process.

Referring to Fig. 2, the purging is carried out in the machine shown in that drawing. The juice is fed to the machine for extraction through a pipe I which is adapted to pass through an aperture 2 provided in a base casting 3 The pipe I passes through an. aperture 4 formed in the bottom at the center of the base casting 3. A fluid tight fit is provided by screwing on to an extension 5 of the base casting 3 a cap 6 which is adapted to press a collar 1 formedon the pipe I against a. fluid-tight compression packing 8.

The pipe I extends upwardly into the center oi the centrifuge at the bottom thereof, and is provided at its upper end with a juice deflector 9. The deflector comprises a flanged fitting I0 which has a downwardly extending section II that fits into the upper end of the juice pipe I. Above this flanged fitting III is a parallel plate I 2 which is 0 I6 having a central aperture II through which without departing from the spirit .and scope of the appended claims.

In order to make my invention more clearly understood, I have shown in the accompanying is adapted to pass the juice pipe I. Formed on the fitting I6 is an upwardly extending collar I8 which extends up near the bottom surface of the flanged fitting III, thus preventing juice from flowing through the aperture".

The fitting I 6 carries at its lower end a ball race I 9. A ball race 20 is fitted into the base 3, and the rotating element is adapted to rotate on balls 2| held between the ball races I9 and 20.

There is a space betweenthe outer surface 01' and the section the tapered rotating element It I5 of the body through which purging inert gas can pass, though the main volume of gas is adapt d to pass downwardly In the rotating elesuch as carbon dioxide or nitrogen, or a mixture of the two, passes downwardly in the rotat n element l4 and is discharged through the aperture it formed in the fitting it, and thence into a collecting chamber 2%, and out through a port 25 formed in the base 3. The port 25 connects with an inert gas discharge pipe 25, which is held to the port by means of a suitable gas-tight fitting indicated generally by the numeral 21!. A juice discharge chamber is formed in the body casting above the section i5. This chamber is indicated by the numeral 23. The chamber lies adjacent an upper section 29 of the tapered rtating member 34 which is provided with apertures 30 through which the juice passes into the juice chamber 23. From thence it is-discharged through a nipple 3!]. which is attached by means 7 of a suitable liquid tight fitting 32 in a juice discharge line 33.

Adjacent the top of the mechanical rotating element It, which is the expanded end of that element, is a seed collecting chamber 34 formed in the body casting into which the seeds and larger particles of the extracted fruit are adapted to be discharged. In order to flush out the seeds from the seed collecting chamber 34, water is fed through a pipe 35 joined by a suitable fitting 36 to a nozzle 31 formed on the cover plate 38 for the seed collecting chamber 34. The cover plate 38 isprovided with a flange 39 which fits on a. corresponding flange 40 formed on the seed collecting chamber 34.

dicated generally by the numeral 5!, and a packing gland construction, indicated generally by the numeral 52, gives a fluid-tight fit between the shaft 23 and the cover 38 of the seed collecting chamber 34. v

, Fixed to the shaft 23 is a pulley 53 adapted to be driven by a belt from some suitable source of power (not shown) to rotate the shaft 23 and hence-to impart rotary motion through the fittings 48 and 46 to the rotating member M.

The inert gas inlet line 22' fits within the hollow shaft 23, and a suitable packing gland construction 5 3 permits rotation of the shaft 23 without permitting escape of inert gas discharged from the line 22 into the centrifuge. The inert gas inlet pipe 22 is held in position by means-of a bracket construction 55 formed on the cover plate 38. The split end5t of the bracket 55 is held by means of a bolt construction 5'! firmly around the pipe 22 to hold it in position.

The rotating member it is provided with a' downwardly extending bafiie 58 which is adapted to overlap the inner periphery of the bottom 53 of the juice collecting chamber 28. This construction, prevents the juice from flowing down into the chamber formed between the outside Between the flanges 39 and is a suitable packing H. The two flanges are held together, compressing the packing 4| between them to provide a fluid-tight fit. These flanges may be held together by bolts or other suitable means, not shown.

The seed collecting chamber 34 is provided with a discharge chute 42 which feeds into a water' seal 43 formed abovethe section ii of the body 44 over which the water, seed and large particles forming the waterseal 43, thus preventing access casting. The water seal 43 has a discharge chute of the rotating member I4 and the body section i5.

In operation the member I4 is rotated by the pulley 53; Juice to be purged is admitted through the juice pipe I and is discharged in a film on the inner surface of the member [4 by reason of the plate l2. Because the element I4 is rotating at a rapid speed, juice is distributed along the inner surface of the element I4 in a film; Be-

cause the juice is discharged at the lower end of the tapered rotating member l4, it will pass from the lower, smaller end of the element l4 to the upper, larger end of the element 14. During this action any lighter gaseous element, as air, contained in the juice will be squeezed ou and a layer separablefrom the layer of juice formed on the wall of the rotating element l4. Inert gas is discharged through the inlet line 22 and the hollow shaft 23 into the top of the rotating element and passes counter-flow to the upward movement of the film of juice on the inner surface of the element l4, and passes out through aperture I! into the chamber 24 and of atmospheric oxygen into the centrifuge. Water passing into the seed chamber 34'through pipe 35 flushes out the seeds and large particles in the juice which, by centrifugal action, are forced out overthe top of the rotating conical member l4.

The top of the rotating member I4 is provided with a ring 46 which is sweated into place on the end of the member 14, or otherwise suitably attached. This ring 46 forms a flange for the upper end of the rotating element l4. Mounted above the ring 46 is a. driving disc 48 which is held in spaced relation to the ring 46 by means of spacers 49 that fit over connecting bolts 56 joining the rotating elementl4 to the drivingdisc 48. The space between the members 46 and 48 permits the seeds and large particles discharged from the upper end of the rotating member l4 to be discharged into the seed collecting chamber 35.

The driving disc 48 is rotated by means of the hollow shaft 23 which iskeyed, or otherwise attached, at its lower end into a central aperture formedin the disc 48. The hollow shaft 23 is suitably journaled in a ball bearing support inthence out through port 25 and gas outlet line 26'. The air thus centrifugally separated from the juice is exposed to the flow of inert gas which purges the juice of substantially all of the atmospheric oxygen that the juice has collected. The seeds will be separated from the juice as it passes through the small apertures 30. and will be discharged out of the top of the rotating member l4 into the seed collecting chamber 34, and will be swept out by water discharged into the chamber through nozzle 31, through chute 42, into water seal 43, from whence the larger particles, the seeds and the water will then be discharged over the lip 44. The juice will be discharged through the apertures 30 into the juice collecting chamber 28, from whence the juice will be discharged through port 3| and juice discharge pipe 33.

A typical operation of my process is indicated in the flow sheet. It is necessary that the juice extracted in the open atmosphere be quickly passed to the purging operation, asthe juice will suffer deterioration if the atmospheric oxygen is allowed to remain in the juice for any considerable length of time. Speed between extractin and then the purging is an essential part of the stantially all of the .the centrifuge.

' collecting chamber.

. into the containers process. The juice extracted in theopen air is passed to a centrifuge where it is purged of subcounter-currently to the juice passing through The juice in its passage through the rotating member I4 is screened into a juice through a water seal. Juice from the juice c0llecting chamber 28 passesout from the centrifuge through pipe 33. This juice may be sent to a flash pasteurization step, or it may be directly sent to containers.

directly rather than be sent to large holding containers, it may be fed-to the cans from the bottom under a blanket. of steam to prevent the oxygen of the atmosphere from oxidizing the juice.

As an alternate process, the flash pasteurization stepmay be eliminated and the juice-filled which are then sealed and the juice pasteurized in the containers after the sealing.

I desire. that my invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims and the prior art.

I claim I 1. A process comprising-extracting juice from fruit or vegetables in the open atmosphere, passing the juice immediately to a closed chamber, continuously purging the chamber with an inert gas moving counter-currently to the juice passing through the chamber, screening the juice in oxygen bymeans of the action of an inert purging gas. The purging gas flows The seeds aredischarged If the juice is to be canned dition comprising'extracting the juice in the open a water seal to waste.

I 2.'That method of obtaining juice from fruits the chamber. and then atmosphere, quickly passing the juice to a closed chamber wherein it is subjected to centrifugal action thereby separating the air from the juice, purging the air with a stream of inertgas that moves in a counter direction tothe movement of the juice, and then passing the seeds through a liquid seal to waste.

4. That method of obtaining juice from fruits and vegetables in substantially unoxidized condition comprising extracting the juice in the open atmosphere, quickly spreading the juice by centrifugal force on a rotating surface whereby the air is separated from the juice, subjecting the separated air to the action of an inert gas moving in a direction opposite to the movement of the juice, and passing the seeds through a liquid seal to waste.

' RONALD B. McKINNIS.

passing'the seeds through 

